Last Feb. 6, Kristaps Porzingis tore his ACL.
It was a punch to the gut — or, maybe a little bit lower — of Knicks fans everywhere. Porzingis is the future, and not only was he out for all of last season he’s not likely to return before Christmas this season (if he returns at all.
He is working hard rehabbing the knee, and spoke with the Players’ Tribune about how that is going, the support of his family, doing yoga and more.
"I've seen the play a thousand times, I know exactly how it felt and I'm not shying away from it."@KPorzee tore his ACL on February 6th and is embracing the challenge of his recovery. pic.twitter.com/CXn5LSEOTh
— The Players' Tribune (@PlayersTribune) July 25, 2018
In my mind, the two most interesting things he said were:
“The scar is going to be there (on his knee), but it’s more important that the scar is not up in here (he points to his head), so when you get back out on the court you don’t even think about your knee.”
He gets it. Fans of any professional sport have watched players come back from a major knee injury and, understandably, be a little hesitant to fully trust it again, at least for a while. The cuts aren’t as sharp, they don’t explode off the leg the same way. Porzingis will go through that, too, but understanding it helps.
“The main reason why I wanted to be here in Madrid was to use the Real Madrid facilities, which are some of the best in the world if not the best.”
Plus living in Madrid doesn’t suck. Can’t blame him for being there instead of New York all summer, so long as he is putting in the work.
